Catherine O'Neal, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine
40% of the state’s entire population is now fully vaccinated but for rural regions, that number is still hovering in the low 30s, with numbers in the mid-20s in small rural parishes.
LSU Infectious Disease Specialist and LSU Professor of Clinical Medicine Dr. Catherine O’Neal grew up in rural Vidrine. She said it can take a long time for mainstream messages to penetrate these smaller communities.
“Every type of outlet that reaches rural communities we have to keep trying so that we can make sure that they get the same information that people in Baton Rouge and New Orleans get to, that’s a fair process and that is what we are working on,” said O’Neal who added that small town disconnect from the mainstream can be a beautiful life, but it has complicated outreach efforts.
“If the community has not banded together to fight COVID, if they have not seen a lot of it up until now, if they have no made that decision for their community then they are still hesitant.”
52% of Region 1, the New Orleans region, is fully vaccinated, followed by Region 2, the Baton Rouge region, at 43%. A report by the Advocate took a deep dive into vaccine hesitancy in Grant Parish, where the vaccination rate is only 25%.
O’Neal hopes the full FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine will generate more trust in those who live in rural communities but are hesitant.
“This is a vaccination that will be with us for a very long time because it is a really good one and it has been studied well and now we know that it is safe and it works,” said O’Neal.
Nationwide 51% of the total population is fully vaccinated per the CDC, all other numbers were cited from the Louisiana Department of Health COVID dashboard.
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